Station indicator



. 1,515,433 E. H. GEORGIA STATION INDICATOR .Filed fieb. 5, 1924 INVENTOR.

k 1 1 4 Edwardfi Georgia I ATTORNEY.

Patents Nov. 11, 1924.

EDWARD H. GEORGIA, OF WATERBURY, CONNECTICUT.

STATION INDICATOR.

Application filed. February 5, 1924. Serial no. 690,740.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD H. GEORGIA, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Waterbury, county of New Haven, and

State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Station Indicators, of which the following is a spec- This invention relates to station-indicators and more particularly to an automatic electrically-operated device for trolley cars, subway trains,-elevated trains, and the like, for

' changeably eiz'hibiting' the names of succesis sive stations along the route.

One object of this invention is to provide a station indicator-employing acontinuous strip of sheet material wound upon a pair of drums, said strip being automatically advanced step-by-step as the successive stations are passed.

' A further object of the invention is to provide a station indicator of the above nature in which one of the drums is intermittently rotated by the successive" operations of an electromagnet; A further object of the invention is to provide a station indicator of this nature, in which a flow of current will be sent momentarily through the electromagnet by the closing of a switch each timethe car passes by a tripping block located alongside the rails. A further object is to provide a device of the above nature Which will be simple, inexpensive to manufacture, easy to install, accurate and reliable in operation, andvery efficient and durable in use.

along the line 22 of Fig. 1, looking in the y,

direction of the arrows. 4

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a trolley car upon which the invention has been installed. v

Fig. 4 is a sectional view of an alternative form of circuit-elosing device.

Referring now to the drawings in which like reference numerals denote correspond ing parts throughout the several views, the numeral 10 indicates a trolley car adapted to travel upon a pair of rails 11, mounted upon ties 12. -At a predetermined distance from the last street or station along the route of the car, provision is made of a tripping block 13 havinga flat base adapted to rest 011 one of the ties 12. The block 13,;has

a laterally extending perforated eaglfkflapted to be secured to one of the t1 es 12 by means of'a bolt 15 passing through said ear. The top of the tripping block 13 is curved, preferably in the arc of the circle, as shown more clearly in Fig. 1, and said curved surface is adapted to engage a curved shoe-15 depending from the side of the car. i The shoe 15 is carried on the lower end of a switch-operating rod 16 slidably mounted within a tubular member 17 which extends up through the floor 18 of the car. The tubular member 17 is provided with a bracket 19 having a flange 19 which is adapted to be secured to the under surface of the car by means of bolts 20. The shoe 15 has an integral upwardly extending arm 21, said arm being hinged to the switch-operating rod 16 at the point 22.

The lower end of the switch-operating rod 16, above the hinge point 22, has a pair of leaf springs 23 riveted thereto, said springs being adapted to resiliently press upon opposite sides of the shoe-arm 21. By means of this construction, the arm21 will be permitted to yield slightly when the shoe 15 engages the triping blocks 13, and undue shocks and possible breakage of parts is thereby prevented. y

Located on the switch-operating rod 16 a short distance above the springs 23, is an integral collar 24 which serves to hold the lower end of a spiral spring 25, which sur-. rounds the switch-operating rod 16. The upper end of the spring 25 is engaged by the lowerend of the tubular member 17, the spring being of such a size that the shoe 15 will be pressed downwardly at all times. In order to prevent the switch-operating rod 16 f from sliding out through the tube, the rod- 16 is extended slightly above the tubular member 17 and is provided with a pin 26 adapted to rest onthe top of said tubular member.

Mounted upon the floor of the car directly pair of horizontal resilient-arms 27 and 28 .above the rod 16, is a switch support 26*. A

. and serve to connect the terminals of the switch to a pair of conducting wires 36 and .37. The wire 36 leads to one terminal of a source of current while the wire 37 leads to one terminal 38 of an electromagnet 39. The

. electromagnet 39 is adapted to actuate the a site arms.

signal mechanism, and is located in a casing 40 adapted to be secured to a wall of the car. The electric circuit is completed by a conducting wire41 leading from the other terminal 42 of the electromagnet 39 .to the source of current.

An auxiliary switch43 may be provided in the conductor 41 if desired, so that when the motion of the car is reversed, for any reason, the station indicator may be disconnected. The disconnectingof the switch when the car is reversed may be automatic or it may be done manually by the driver of the car.

The electromagnet39 is adapted to be supported by means of a U-shaped bracket 44 secured to the wall of the casing in any suitable manner. The electromagnet. comprises a cylindrical coilof wire 45 within which slides an iron core 46, said core 46 being rigidly mounted upon a core rod 47 journaled in a pair of shouldered discs 48 and 49 seated in the flanges 50 and 51 at the top and bottom of the cylindrical electro magnet respectively. The upper portion of the core rod 47 is provided with an enlarged bifurcated member 52 having a tooth member 53 pivotally mounted between its oppo- The tooth member 53 is provided with a pointed upper end adapted to engage between successive teeth of a ratchet 54 mounted on a shaft '55 journaled in the top of the indicator casing 40. The tooth 53 is adapted to be resiliently pressed at all times into contact with the ratchet 54 by means of a leaf spring 56 attached to the enlarged member 52, preferably by a screw 56. p w

Depending from the top of the casing is a pawl bracket 57 to which is pivoted a pawl 58 adapted to engage in the teeth of the ratchet 54 to prevent the latter from rotating backwardly.

The shaft is provided with a drum 59 having flanges 60 and 61 ateither end for receiving a continuousstrip 62, said strip being preferably formed from transparent material having printed thereon a. list of the successive streets or stations along the route. p

In the lower part of the casing, provision is made of a shaft 63 parallel to the shaft 55 and having a drum 64 rigidly mounted thereon, said drum 64 being somewhat smaller indiameter than the drum 59 previously described. The'lower drum 64 has flanges 65 and 66 similar to the flanges 60 and 61 of the upper drum 59, and is adapted to receive the other end of the continuous strip 62. The front of the casing is closed by a flanged cover 67 fitting tightly about the edges of the casing and having a rectangular horizontal aperture 68 of such a size that the names of the stations can be readily observed by the passengers in the car. At the rear of the casing and in alinement with the rectangular aperture 58 are a pair of lamps 59 which'serve to illuminate the rear of the transparent strip 62.

In order to permit the continuous strip 62,

containing the list of stations, to be rewound upon the lower drum, and to enable the indicator to be adjusted to any-particular station, a pair of handles 76 and 77 are provided on the ends of the shafts 55 and 63, said handles being located outside the easing 40 for convenience in manipulation. In practice, the list of stations along the route in one direction will usually be duplicated on the continuous strip 62 in the reverse order, so that it will be unnecesary to manipulate the handles until the trolley car has 53 upwardly a suflicient distance to rotate the ratchet 54-and the attached drum 5.) forward one step. A portion of the strip 62 will thus be unwound from the drum 64 and wound up upon the drum 59, bringing the name of the next station into' position behind the rectangular opeuing 68.

In Fig. 4, an alternative form of switch member is disclosed. This device comprises a U-shaped bracket 68 having a. flat base 69 secured to the floor of the car, and a depending tubular portion '7 within the lower end of which a bell-cranli lever '71 is pivoted. One arm of the bell crank lever 71 is inclined downwardly and is provided with a roller 72 at itslower end, said roller being adapted to engage the tripping blocks 12* previously mentioned. In this form of de rice, the contact elements of the switch coinprise a pair of opposed vertical and horizon tal resilient arms 73 and 7 4 connected to the 75 adapted to force the resilient terminal 7 4 into engagement with the terminalYB whenever the roller'72 comes into engagement but may be modified and embodied in variwith said tripping blocks. When the roller bell-crank lever 1 will return to' its original position by gravity.

While there has been disclosed in. this specification one form in which the inven: tion may be embodied,-it is to be understood that this form is shown for the purpose of illustration only,-and that the invention is not to be limited to the specific disclosure.

ous other forms without departing from its spirit. In short, the invention includes all the modifications and embodiments coining Having thus fullydescribed the invention, what is claimed asnew, and for which it is desired to secure Letters Patent, is:

'1. In a street or station indicator for a railway car or-the like, a signal device, an electromagnet' adapted to be intermittentlyenergized to cause said signal device to iiidicate the successive streets or stations along the route, an electric circuit for supplying electric current to said electromagnet;. a

switch in said circuit, said switch having a pair of horizontal arms-with their extremities overlapping and slightly spaced. apart,a vertically slidable rod in alinement with said extremities, and a shoe'resiliently connected to the lower end of said rod,

said shoe. being adapted to be engaged by an obstruction alongside the track whereby the rod will be slid upwardly to close the electric circuit and energize the signalactuating electromagnet.

.2. In a street or station indicator for a railway car or the like, a signal device, an

electromagnet adapted to be intermittently energized to cause 'said sigiial device to iii-v dicate the successive streets or stations along the route, an electric circuit for supplying electric current to said electromagnet, aswitch in said circuit, a vertically slid-' able rod mounted in the car frame for closing said switch, a shoe member pivoted on the lower end of. said rod, 2. 1:. of leaf springs secured to said, rod and opposite sides of said shoe member, said shoe member being adapted to be engaged byan' obstruction alongsidethe track whereby the rod will be slid upwardly to 'close the electric circuit and energize the signalactuating electromagnet.

3. In a street or station indicator for a railway car or the like, a signal device, an electromagnet adapted to be intermittent- 1y energized to cause said signal device to indicate the successive streets or stations along the route, an electric circuit for supplying electric current to said electromagnet, a switch in said circuit, a tubular bracket; mounted on said car, a rod slidable in said bracket for closing said switch,a "72 has p-assed beyond the tripping block, the ShhQLmember resiliently connected to the lower end of said rod, a collar on said rod below said bracket, a spiral springjlocated on said rod between said collar and said .the rod will be slid upwardly 'to'close the electric circuit and energize the signalactuating electromagnet.

4. In a station indicator for a railway car, an indicating casing, a pair of drums in said casing, a continuous strip of diswithin' the scope of the following claims. iplaying material containing the names of successive stations along the route wound upon said drums, means for intermittently rotating one of said drums to wind part of the strip thereon, said means comprising a ratchet connected to said drum, an electromagnet-operated pawl for actuating said ratchet, means for momentarily passing a current through said electromagnet, said means comprising an electric circuit for supplying electric current to said electromagnet, a switch in said circuit, said switchhaving a pair of horizontal arms with their extremities overlapping and slightly spaced apart, a vertically slidablerod in aliiiement' energized to cause said signal device to indicate the successive streets 01', stations along the route, an electric circuit for supplying electric current to said electromagnet, a

switch in said circuit, said switch having apair of arms with their extremities over lapping and slightly spaced apart, a slidable rod in alinement. with said extremities, and a shoe resiliently connected'to the lower end of said rod, said shoe being adapted to be engaged by an obstruction alongside the track whereby the rod will be slid up wardly to close the electric circuit and energize the signal-actuating electromagnet.

In, testimony whereof, I have afiixed my signature to this specification.

'ED IVARD H. GEORGIA. 

